The bottom line is, and will always be for as long as this blog exists, that I’m just a cat trying to get through another American recession in one piece. I’m tired of sophistry, the Blame Game, conservatives calling liberals evil and vice versa, and the general dummying down of America. You have to be too, at least as tired of it all as I am, maybe more so, because, for all the partisan bickering, all the namecalling and fingerpointing, where has it all gotten you, gotten me?

This blog’s going to be a little different. It’s going to be opinions and observations, and yes, it will be leaning to the left in most cases. That doesn’t mean, however, that this will wallow in the gutter of left-right politics. There are plenty of blogs that seek to demonize the opposition, from all over the political spectrum, and you’re more than welcome to peruse them; in fact, if you’re looking for that visceral rush that comes from partisan browbeating, I encourage you to leave this page now and find something more to your taste.

See, I define myself as a liberal because I know what it is to be a liberal. I understand liberalism. There are many great liberal heroes throughout the world, and we can name plenty—Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, John Lennon, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Leo Tolstoy, Henry David Thoreau, even Jesus Christ. I’m proud of this legacy, and I can trace its lineage from the Gospels to the Enlightenment to the Declaration of Independence to Civil Disobedience to I Have a Dream. These are good, noble things to aspire to, and it is a challenge to live up to the bar such great men have raised, to the ethics these great documents acclaim.

More importantly, I am a liberal, not a conservative-hater. I am what I am because I believe in something positive, not because I consider the right wrong and evil. Conservatism, as an ideology, has its place. There’s nothing wrong with conservatism per se, I can take it or leave it, and most honest conservatives can as well. What I have a distinct problem with is this culture that seems to dictate everything to be a wedge issue, everything must be bitterly fought over, the other guy disagrees and is therefore the enemy of the state. That’s what bickering children do, and I realize I’m basically calling most of the American media children when I say that. This is a very poisonous climate when it comes to politics, and while many consider it a sport, I consider it a blight on our national character.

Hence, as just a cat trying to get through another American recession in one piece, my hope is to talk about what I believe, not what I loathe. I’m more likely to ignore the splinter in my brother’s eye and address the beam in my own. Politics, religion, history, media, sports, entertainment, whatever the topic, I hope to present myself as someone raising the level of discussion, not crushing it under heel.

As such, if you became a liberal because George W. Bush disgusts you, in my opinion, you did so for the wrong reasons. If you voted for Barack Obama merely because he wasn’t John McCain, this might not be your cup of tea. If you vote for a candidate simply for the R or the D after his name, you can leave now.

But, if you’re interested in discussing liberal politics, liberal Christianity, the so-called Liberal Media, and other points in the liberal sphere with an open mind, a clear conscience, and a bleeding heart, I look forward to getting to know you.

My name is Arjay Phoenician, and this is my blog. I hope you get something out of it.

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Arjay Phoenician

The awesome articles you will read in this blog were conceived in the mind of Arjay Phoenician and inserted directly to this blog. No foreign entity controls the message. It is not paid for by any agent. It pays no inherent loyalty to any political party. I love my family, my country, and my Jesus, not necessarily in that order.